National University’s faculty Dr. Carlo Guadagno (photo right) and alumnus Dr. Clive Bridgham (DC ’86 – photo below) have been busy treating athletes in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. For the past two weeks, they have been part of a multidisciplinary sports medicine staff working at the Olympic Village Polyclinic.

Dr. Guadagno and Dr. Bridgham were selected by the organizing committee of the Rio Olympic games from more than 200 DCs worldwide that had applied.

“The fact that a multinational chiropractic contingent was selected and formed part of the polyclinic sports medicine staff in Rio was a historic event,” says Dr. Guadagno. “We’ve only recently had DCs included in the Olympic Village Polyclinic – in the winter games in Vancouver and the summer games in London. At that time, however, only the Canadian DCs and British DCs were invited respectively.”

“The Polyclinic has many specialties under one roof, including dentistry, physical therapy, osteopathy, massage, imaging, cryotherapy, orthopedics and more,” says Dr. Guadagno, “so it’s important that we are included now. While we were there, the other sports medicine professionals accepted us with open arms.”

Dr. Guadagno and Dr. Bridgham provided treatment to all athletes requesting their services, from any country’s team in any sport. “We saw a wide variety of treatment need, with many athletes being referred to us for neck, low back and extremity conditions, ” says Dr. Guadagno.

“It was great to make a difference in these athletes’ lives. We helped them achieve their goals by getting back into play after an injury, or helping them perform at their optimum level by making sure that their body was functioning at 100%,” says Dr. Guadagno.

Dr. Guadagno has worked with athletes during four separate rotations at Olympic training centers for several years, including the US training facilities in Chula Vista, Colorado Springs, and Lake Placid, and at several International Olympic Committee events such as the 20^th and 22^nd Central American Games in Cartagena, Colombia and Veracruz, Mexico, as well as the 2011 Panamerican Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.

A leader in international and national chiropractic sports medicine, Dr. Guadagno was a past president of the Council on Sports Injuries, Rehabilitation and Physical Fitness of the FCA, he has served on the board of directors of the ACA Sports Injury Council, and in 2011 was named “Sports Chiropractor of the Year” byt the FCA Sports Injuries Council.

“This has been a dream for my entire chiropractic career, and was 27 years in the making,” says Dr. Guadagno. “It is the highest level of sport, and thus it was quite an honor to form part of the sports medicine staff.”